Beaconsfield crash killer walks free as family left outraged

William Sherriff was told: “You’re a liar, you’re a coward and you’re a killer and that is all you will ever be," by a woman who stormed out of court as he was given a suspended sentence.

The teenager was being sentenced for causing the death of promising footballer Luca Skivington by careless driving, in a horror crash where inexperienced Sherriff drove the car off the road and sent it flying through the air for 30 metres before it hit an electrical substation.

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Another passenger, Ollie Masters, had later taken his own life after he developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and the court heard he had been haunted by the image of seeing Luca’s horrific head injury, sustained during the crash.

Judge Francis Sheridan had criticised the decision of Sherriff’s parents in buying him a sports car - he had only passed his driving test three days before the death crash.

The judge said: “The buying of that BMW was the crassest decision that any of us will ever witness.

"The defendant had only just passed his test and the decision to buy him a BMW 1.8, for a new driver of his age, was a crass one to put it mildly.

“Please, when your child passes their driving test, buy them a little, low-powered banger, putting it bluntly, rather than a high-powered super killer, if it is driven badly. That is a plea to all parents of sixth formers.

“Let a message go out to all of the drivers - drive an old banger, where you are lucky if you can get it to 60mph if you put your foot down.”

A man, who also stormed out of Aylesbury Crown Court, shouted to Judge Sheridan: “You got that wrong judge.”

Turning to Sherriff’s parents, who sat together in court, the man added: “You should be ashamed of yourselves, letting him drive that car. You have got blood on your hands.”

Jonathan Stone, prosecuting, said: “Luca had suffered an extremely severe, non-survivable head injury that would have resulted in instantaneous death.

“The cause of the collision was because of the nature of the driving of the defendant. He has accepted that by way of his guilty plea.

“The collision took place at the bottom end of Windsor End in Beaconsfield, Bucks. Luca was the front seat passenger and bore the brunt of the collision.”

In a victim impact statement, Glenn Skivington, Luca's father said: “In a few days, it will be exactly one year since our precious son suddenly, violently died. He had no choice in the matter, neither did we.

“Imagine being told no other vehicle was involved and that the driver of the car had driven straight through a bend without attempting to turn.

READ MORE - Tributes pour in for teenage footballer killed in Beaconsfield crash

“Imagine being told that the driver only passed his driving test a few days earlier and had been allowed to drive a powerful, three-year-old BMW.

“Imagine trying to process the realisation that the crash was not an accident but a predictable, tragic outcome of some idiot showing off in a new car he was not capable of driving and should not have been allowed to drive.”

Curly-haired Sherriff, who had no previous convictions and appeared in court wearing a pink and blue tie, looked distressed as he heard the details of his mitigation read out by defending lawyer Edward Butler in court.

Mr Butler said: "If there was a sentence that could undo the events of August 6 last year, that could possibly restore Luca Skivington, then be under no illusion, Will Sherriff would invite Your Honour to pass that sentence, regardless of the personal consequences for him.

“This young man has made two serious attempts on his life. First, an overdose of paracetamol days following the accident, leading to hospitalisation.

“Two days after Christmas, he returned to the scene of the collision, to the bridge over the M40. Police had to attend to talk him down. More recently, he has had to be hospitalised over fears over his own personal safety.

“It is unavoidable, and I do not criticise that at times it has led to anger, but it is the case that the reaction to Will Sherriff has at times been unrestrained and vitriolic.

“The truth is that social media very rarely, if ever, represents a true picture of a young person and the way in which they are dealing with a particular matter.”

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Mr Butler added that his client, who he described as “a young man of real promise," had not driven since the incident and lost his employment working for a PR company.

Judge Sheridan, sentencing, told the court he would be sending his remarks to the leader of Buckinghamshire County Council, stating that a collision expert had told how the 60mph speed limit on the stretch of road where the crash happened was too high to safely take the bend.

The prosecutor had told how the maximum sentence for a category two offence of causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving, which Sherriff had admitted in the magistrates court, was two years imprisonment.

Judge Sheridan said: “I do not regard, under the guidelines, this as a case of driving that caused two deaths, because that is a stretch too far.

“The reality is that two decent young men had their lives snuffed out as a result of this awful incident.

“After the incident the defendant was tested, there was no alcohol and there was no drugs in his system.

“The reason for this death is the inexperienced driving of a powerful car by an inexperienced driver. His driving was not aggressive, he was not on a mobile phone, he was not distracted or tired.

“If it were not for this awful incident and the tragic consequences, people would no doubt be saying of him he is a good lad, employable and worth knowing.”

Judge Sheridan sentenced Sherriff, of Jennings Field, Flackwell Heath, to six months imprisonment, suspended for two years. He ordered the defendant to complete 80 hours unpaid work and 24 rehabilitation activity requirement days. Sherriff was banned from driving for two years and ordered to take an extended retest.

Explaining the decision to spare Sheriff jail, the judge told him: “Part of the reason, let me tell you, is your own mental health.”

At that, the family of Luca interrupted the proceedings and left, at which the judge ended the hearing and asked everyone to leave in silence as a mark of respect.